Skeptical Thoughts

Climate change deniers added to Christchurch coastal erosion panel

June 12, 2016

There is now a second panel that has been convened to review Christchurch Council's "Tonkin Taylor" coastal erosion report. The panel has been instructed to:

"consider if the Tonkin and Taylor report represented good science, if the findings were still relevant and whether or not the report and its findings should inform planning for future land use decisions."

Community reference group member Warwick Schaffer​ said the group went to a lot of effort to get a balanced panel. He hoped having proponents and sceptics would ensure a proper scientific debate.

Of course, having two out of five members of the panel supporting a minority view is what's called "false balance", and is not representative of just how fringe the climate change denial viewpoint is.

It seems that the decision to add Dr Kesten Green and Dr Willem de Lange to the panel was in order to satisfy climate change deniers. Both have ties to the Heartland Institute, which is well known for its climate denial lobbying. De Lange has previously been employed by local residents to challenge the Kapiti District Council's review on coastal erosion.